Trousers-support.



No. 718,690. PATENTED JAN. 20, 1903.

- M. M. BOWMAN.

TROUSERS SUPPORT.

APPLICATION FILED mm: 16, 1902.

.10 MODEL.

1: Noam PETERS co. Fnonmu'rna. WASHINGTON. u. c

UNTTE TATES PATENT OFFICE.

MAX M. BOWMAN, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

TROUSERS-SUPPORT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 718,690, dated January 20, 1903. Application filed June 16, 1902. Serial No. 111,857. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MAX M. BOWMAN, a citizen of the United States of America,and a resifor its object to provide a device of this char-' actor of a simple and inexpensive nature and of a neat and convenient kind which shall be especially adapted for use in connection with shirt-waists or when the coat or vest is not worn, being hidden within the trousers when in use and being of a nature adapted to hold the trousers securely in place without the use of suspenders and without wrinkling or 0therwise presenting an unsightly appearance.

The invention consists in certain novel features of the construction, combination, and arrangement of the several parts of the improved trousers-supporting device whereby certain important advantages are attained and the device is made simpler, cheaper, and otherwise better adapted and more convenient for use, all as will be hereinafter fully set forth.

The novel features of the invention will be carefully defined in the claims.

In order that myimprovements maybe the better understood, I have illustrated in the accompanying drawings a device constructed in accordance with my invention, in which drawings Figure 1 is a View drawn to a small scale and showing an inside view or stretch-out of the waist portion of a pairof trousers having my improved supporting device applied thereto for use; and Fig. 2 is a plan viewv showing the upper edge portion of the waist part of the trousers provided with my improved supporting device, the parts of the device being shown in the positions in which they stand when secured about the waist of a wearer. Fig. 3 is a fragmentary View drawn to a larger scale and showing a preferred form of buckle or fastening device adapted for use in connection with the improved supporting device.

As shown in the views, 1 indicates the trousers, and 2 indicates the waist portion thereof.

The improved supporting device, as shown in the drawings, comprises two elongated strips or pieces 3 and 4, preferably formed from cloth, although they may be formed from other suitable flexible material, and these two strips or pieces 3 and 4 are each made somewhat tapered from end to end, having a wider end portion and a narrower end portion 8, the wider end portion being adapted for attachment to the inside of the waist portion of the trousers and the narrower end portion 8 being free from the trousers. The wider end portions of the strips or pieces 3 and 4 are attached by sewing or otherwise to the inner side of the waist portion 2 of the trousers at the opposite sides of said waist portion and preferably adjacent to the upper parts of the side seams of the trousers, although this location of the attachment is not in any way arbitrary. The points of attachment of the wider portions of the strips or pieces are indicated at 5 5 in the drawings. From the points of attachment 5 5 the strips or pieces 3 and 40f which the improved supporting device is formed are extended around inside the waist portion of the trousers rearward toward and over the rear seam of the trousers, the narrower end portion 8 of one piece or strip being extended over the outer side of the other strip at the point of attachment, as shown at the right in Figs. 1 and 2, and the narrower end portion 8 of the other strip or piece 4 being extendedunderneath the strip or piece 3 and between said strip 3 and the waist portion of the trousers, as shown at the loft in Figs. 1 and 2, the central portion of the attached wider end of the strip 3 being left free and unattached from the waist portion of the trousers, as shown at 6, so as to produce an opening between said wider end of the strip 3 and the trousers, through which opening the narrower end portion 8 of the strip or piece 4 is extended toward the front portion of the trousers.

The opening 6,produced as above described, for the passage of the free narrower end 8 of the strip or piece 4 serves as a guide or loop for the passage of the said end portion of strip 4 when said strip is pulled endwise and also serves to hold the trousers to said strip 4 at that point for the proper support of the side portion of the trousers at that point, and

at the wider attached end 5 of the strip or piece 4 is arranged a loop 7, stitched to the inside of the waist portion of the trousers and serving for the passage of the narrow end portion 8 of the strip 3, so that that side of the trousers is also properly supported from the strip 3.

At the rear part of the trousers a loop 0 is secured by stitching or otherwise upon the inner side of the waist portion of the trousers in position for the passage through it of the lapped portions of the two strips or pieces 3 and 4 of which the device is formed.

The narrow end portion 8 of the strip 3 is of less length than the narrower portion of the other strip or piece 4, and said shorter end portion 8 of the strip 3 carries at its extremity and beyond the loop 7 a buckle 10 or equivalent fastening device adapted to receive and hold the longer end portion 8 of the other strip or piece 4 in order that the device may be secured about the waist of the wearer in position for supporting the trousers.

12 indicates the shorter outer sideof the fly or front portion of the trousers, and it is at this side that the shorter end portion 8 of strip 3, whereon the buckle 10 is carried, is preferably arranged, so that when the front of the trousers is opened the buckle or fastening device will be in position for convenient operation to tighten or to unfasten the device from the waist of the wearer.

In Fig. 3 I have shown a form of buckle which I prefer for use in connection with the improved trousers-supporting device and wherein in lieu of a tongue the buckle is provided with a rectangular open-hinged frame 11, in which the end portion 8 of the strip or piece at is adapted to be passed and by which said end portion will be held securely when the strips are drawn to a proper degree of tautness. I do not desire, however, to be understood as limiting myself to the employment of this particular form of buckle for the attachment of the strips together nor to the employment of buckles exclusively for this purpose, since other forms of clasps or fasteners may be as well used.

In using the improved supporting device for supporting the trousers when the trousers are put on the longer end portion 8 of the strip 4 will be drawn endwise and engaged with the buckle or fastening device 10 upon the shorter end portion 8 of the strip 3. When the end portion of the strip or piece 4 is drawn endwise for tightening the device about the waist of the wearer, the strain upon it will be communicated to the strip 3, and since each of said strips or pieces is extended around the waist portion of the trousers from the front part or fly thereof around one side and the back to the other opposite side portion of the trousers it will be seen that the front portion of the trousers will be drawn tightly across the abdomen of the wearer, while any fullness or looseness in the trousers will be taken up at the back portion of the trousers and between the two points of attachment 5 5 of the wider end portions of the strips or pieces 3 and 4, as indicated at or in Fig. 2, so that any wrinkles or folds which may result from such looseness or fullness will be at the back of the trousers, so as not to make the trousers unsightly. The waist portion of the trousers is securely supported from the two strips or pieces 3 and 4 by means of the attachments at 5 5 at opposite sides and also by means of the side loops or openings 6 and 7 and the rear loop 9, and in order to support the front portion of the trousers similarly from the longer end portion 8 of the strip or piece t I provide said front portion with a loop 14: upon its inner side, through which loop M the said end portion of the strip or piece 4 is passed, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

The device constructed as above described is of an extremely simple and inexpensive nature and being hidden entirely from view inside the trousers when worn is not unsightly, so that it is especially adapted for use when the trousers are to be worn with shirt-waists or without coat or vest. The device is also capable of ready operation and interferes in no way with free movements of the body, since it is composed of flexible strips and has no parts to bear on or chafe the person. The strips 3 and 4 also form a convenient drawerssupport, being adapted for engagement by hooks upon the drawers, so that these latter may be supported within the trousers with their upper edges below the trousers-waistband. The device is also well adapted for use by reason of the fact that the front and side portions of the trousers aredrawn tightly upon the person, so that there areno wrinkles or fullness such as is liable to be produced at the front and sides of trousers when supported by an ordinary outer waist-belt.

From the above description it will be also obvious that the improved trousers-supporting device is capable of some modification without material departure from the principles and spirit of the invention, and for this reason I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to the precise form and arrangement of the several parts of the device as herein set forth.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a trousers-support, the combination of the waist port-ion of a pair of trousers, two parts or strips each attached at one side of the trousers waist portion and extended around the back of the trousers and also around that side of the waist portion which is opposite the side at which the respective part or strip is attached, the strips or parts having end portions adapted to be drawn around the front of the trousers and the back of the trousers waist portion being provided, between the points of attachment of said parts or strips, with a loop through which the two parts or strips are passed, substantially as set forth.

IIO

2. In a trousers-support, the combination of the waist portion of a pair of trousers having a front fly, two parts or strips each attached to the inner surface of the trousers at one side of the trousers waist portion and extended inside the trousers around the back of the trousers and also around that side of the waist portion which is opposite the side at which the respective part or strip is attached, the strips or parts having end portions adapted to'be drawn around the front of the trousers and connected together, and being of unequal lengths whereby the connection between their ends is caused to stand at one side of the front fiy of the trousers, and the trousers waist portion being provided at the back, between the points of attachment of said parts or strips, with a loop through which the two'parts or strips are passed,said waist portion being also provided, at its sides, with other loops through which the respective parts or strips are passed, substantially as set forth.

3. In a trousers-supporting device, the combination of the waist portion of a pair of trousers, two parts or strips each attached at its end to the inner surface of said waist portion at one side of the rear' seam of the trousers and extended inside of the Waist portion across the rear part of the trousers and around one side thereof toward the front of the trousers and having end portions adapted to be drawn about the waist of a wearer and fastened together the central portion of one part or strip being separated from the waist portion of the trousers at its point of attachment thereto to produce a loop or opening through which the other part or strip is passed, aloop at the opposite side of the waist portion of the trousers through which said partiallyseparated part or strip is passed and a loop at the back of the trousers through which both theparts or strips are passed, substantially as set forth.

Signed at Cincinnati, Ohio, this 14th day of J une, 1902.

MAX M. BOWMAN. Witnesses:

JOHN ELIAS JoNEs, J. D. THORNE. 

